Get Fast for Fall Races with Summer Speedwork

Dial up training efforts now.

Summertime, and the training's not easy. Nor should it be. As the season typically means a lighter racing schedule for competitive runners, consider it an opportunity to experiment with workouts and take advantage of ample recovery time to push harder than usual. Ladder, pyramid, and alternator workouts inject speed into summer that will yield results all through fall.

DESCENDING LADDERSThe main advantage of descending ladders is mental—as efforts get shorter, it seems the workout is getting easier (which, of course, it isn't, not if you're doing it right). Use them to develop your ability to speed up despite mounting fatigue.Run It: Perform efforts of 1600 meters, 1200 meters, 800 meters, 400 meters, with a three-minute recovery between each. The goal is to run them fast, increasing your speed by a second or two per lap with each interval, without blowing up. Bob Kennedy, the first American to break 13:00 for 5000 meters, ran eye-popping times of 3:57, 2:56, 1:55, and 0:55 for this workout. Run as a benchmark session once every four weeks when preparing for a 5-K.

ASCENDING LADDERSThese sessions help ingrain race pace with repeats that get progressively longer, and therefore harder, mimicking a race scenario. Approach with caution: Running a mile at marathon pace will initially feel easy, and you can end up running 20 to 30 seconds faster than goal pace without realizing it. This is an early pacing mistake that can come back to haunt you—in the workout, and on race day.Run It: Do the following from the Hansons-Brooks marathon team: Run one mile, jog a half-mile, run two miles, jog a half-mile, run three, jog one, run four. Maintain marathon pace on each effort. Repeat monthly as a marathon-pace workout, running up to three miles initially, until you can handle the whole workout.

PYRAMIDSCombining ascending and descending efforts improves your ability to shift gears between different paces and handle surges during races. The range of paces helps you transition from slower base training to race-pace work starting about three months before your next goal race.Run It: Elite coach Brad Hudson prescribes fartleks of 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 2:00, 1:00. In between, recover by jogging the same duration as the effort you just completed. Run the 1:00 intervals close to mile pace, the 2:00 intervals at 5-K pace, and the 3:00 intervals at 10-K pace. Progress by extending the pyramid to 1-2-3-2-1-2-3 or 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1.

ALTERNATORSEveryone has a gut-busting workout that gives them confidence in their fitness. Mine was alternating 800- and 300-meter repeats, prescribed by my coach, Matt Centrowitz Sr., for 5-K training. I found that the quicker tempo of the 300s helped me run the longer efforts faster than if I'd been running straight 800s.Run It: Do 800 meters hard, jog 200 meters, run 300 meters hard, jog 300 meters. Repeat four to six times. Start the 800s at 10-K pace and the 300s at 5-K pace, and get slightly faster with each effort. This workout can be done throughout training: Hit the maximum number of repeats two months before your goal event; do fewer reps at a faster pace as race day approaches. Do 1600/600 repeats for a half or full marathon.